Francisco Perea born, Jan. 9, 1830

New Mexico’s Francisco Perea, who successfully sought to keep the territory in the Union camp during the Civil War and who served a term as a Republican delegate to the U.S. House during that conflict, was born on this day in 1830 in Las Padillas, N.M.

He was a maternal grandson of Gov. Francisco Xavier Chávez, who became the first governor of the region under the First Mexican Empire after the Mexican War of Independence from Spain had ended in 1821. After attending a Jesuit college in St. Louis and a business college in New York City, Perea returned to New Mexico and ran a ranch.

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In the summer of 1862, Union forces sought to dislodge Confederate insurgents from New Mexico. Perea rallied key New Mexicans who were under pressure to support the Confederacy to remain in the Union. He raised a battalion based in Albuquerque at his own expense and served as lieutenant colonel in the unit. He fought against insurgents and Native Americans in the decisive battle of Apache Canyon that broke the back of the Confederate offensive in New Mexico.

In 1862, Perea was narrowly elected as a territorial delegate. He was seated near Abraham Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theatre when the president was assassinated. After being defeated for reelection in 1864 by José Francisco Chaves, a childhood schoolmate, Perea returned to New Mexico.

Perea married twice, first to Delores Otero, who died in 1866. They had 18 children, most of whom died as infants. He then married Gabriela Montoya in 1875. They also had 18 children, 10 of whom survived him.

He died in Albuquerque on May 21, 1913, the year after New Mexico joined the Union as the 47th state. Arizona, which had been part of the New Mexico territory until 1863, also joined the Union in 1912, completing the contiguous 48 states.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE HOUSE HISTORIAN AND CLERK OF THE HOUSE OFFICE OF ART AND ARCHIVES